


Rabbit on Patrol

by Doug48



Series: Zoo 1.1 [7]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Drama, Gen, Police Procedural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-06-30 10:25:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15749805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doug48/pseuds/Doug48
Summary: Judy Hopps doing cop things





	1. Arrive on Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rabbit really likes her job...

“Victor Bravo 11. Are you 10-8?”

It’s Clawhauser on the radio, and I wonder what’s happening now? Only one way to learn. “This is Victor Bravo 11. 10-4”

“What’s your 20? Got a call from a citizen in Sahara Square. Possible 11-44. Sending the address to your computer now.”

“I’m 10-17. 10-77… three minutes,” I tell him, and turn on the siren and the lights, and check traffic and close the window before accelerating into a U-turn. Claw probably knew I wasn’t in Sahara Square but he wouldn’t give this one to me if anyone else was closer. Probably. On the other hand, I have been known to thank him for this sort of thing with donuts, so you never know. 

My name is Judy Hopps, and I’m not your average police mammal in Zootopia. For one thing, I’m the first rabbit, and I’ve been out of the academy only nine months. I don’t have a partner yet, but I’m working on it. I do finally have a cruiser fitted out for someone my size to drive. Most of my fellows are larger; they’re either wolf -sized or more, so the special cruiser is quite a perk and I do enjoy it.

Three minutes later, I’m arriving at the address, so I turn off the lights and siren, and take a quick look around before stopping. I can see the citizen waiting, and so I note the time. Sometimes I wonder if I should just get a machine that stamps the time on a card. 

I stop the car and get out, remembering to grab the keys this time. I grew up on a farm and we usually left the keys with the truck and we only had one anyway. City people don’t do that. Everyone has a car or truck even though they also all have access to relatively cheap and reliable public transportation. 

“Good morning,” I greet the citizen. It’s a badger this time, and she’s about my size. “Can you tell me your name and what you saw?” 

She looked a little surprised at first when a bunny jumped out of the big cruiser, but I’m getting used to that reaction. Sometimes they ask where my partner is, but this time I don’t have to explain that he is still training. Sometimes I get a laugh and I wonder why. Nick is training at the Academy, after all.

“I’m Bobbi Honeydew. It’s right over here. In the alley,” the badger said, and pointed, but made no move in that direction. Many mammals are curious their first time, but this one had clearly seen enough, so I wonder how close she got to the body?

“Okay. You didn’t touch anything did you?” I ask and walk toward the alley. I hear nothing unusual, but see a great deal of assorted trash and what at first appears to be some sort of shopping bag. I listen but hear no heartbeat even after I get closer to confirm that the hand bag had an arm through the straps. I turn back to the badger, who is still near my cruiser, and walk away from the alley, but not directly back to the badger. 

“Can you join me over here?" She did and I asked, "where were you when you saw it?” 

She gestured to a spot about twenty feet from the body. “About there.” 

I get out my recorder pen and notebook and start making notes. “How did you know what it was? Did you smell it?” She looked at me oddly, but I had to know. The body was mostly covered and I had had to get pretty close before I saw the arm and I’ve done this a couple of time before.

“I may have gotten a little closer,” she said, putting her arms around her torso and looking down. 

I wanted to tell her it was OK, but I couldn’t do that yet, so I waited. They always admit when they know they did something foolish and I can usually just let them off with a warning. I really hope she didn’t touch the body because our crime scene guys will need to get fiber and fur samples. Most mammals don’t enjoy taking time out of their day for that sort of thing. 

“I may have actually put my paw on the hand bag. It's just the right size for me, and I thought someone had thrown it out, and then I noticed the arm….” she said.

I put my paw on her shoulder. "You're okay. The bag is still there, so you didn’t steel anything and you didn’t know what else was here, so it’s not interference in a police investigation. Did you touch any part of the body, like the arm? We need to know so we can figure out what happened.”

“No, just the purse,” she said, staring at her paws and then rubbing them on her clothes. There was nothing on them that I could see.

“Okay. Please stay here, all right? I need to call this in and a detective may have questions.” 

Now she looked directly at me. “But I need to get to work,” she said, and looked away, realizing how selfish that probably sounded. 

“We’ll fix it with your employer. Really it’s easier this way. I’m sure you would rather get this over with now,” I told her. “You do want to help us catch the guy that did it, right?"

She nodded, reluctantly.

I called in a situation report, and then went back to the cruiser to get some items, including yellow caution tape, which I used to tape this side of the alley. I could see the alley was open on the other side, but I didn’t want to leave the badger alone while I taped that side, so I spent the remaining time with her until my fellow officers arrived to make sketches and notes. Partly cloudy skies. Normal, that is hot, weather here in Sahara Square. I look around, but nobody is paying too much attention to the crime scene even though some people are drifting over to look. 

“Please stay behind the caution tape everyone,” I remind them. I have to use my loud, but calm, ‘I’m in charge’ voice in these situations. I usually just pretend I’m talking to my younger brothers and sisters back home. 

One of them, a hippo, has a question. “What’s going on?”

“We may have found something unpleasant. Please don’t get any closer.”

They have their phones out and are taking pictures as usual. Also as usual, some of those cameras are pointing more at me than at the crime scene behind the tape. I’ve had to accept being something of a minor celebrity because of that unfortunate press conference. I hope mammals eventually forget about the foolish things I said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Hopps would love to use the police codes. Probably uses them when she talks to Nick while he's at the academy to drive him bonkers.


	2. Processing the crime scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Officer Hopps gets some help

Another ZPD cruiser rolls up to the alley and stops, and a wolf and a tiger in blue uniforms get out. It’s Wolford and Delgato, two of my fellow police mammals from Precinct One. I’ve worked with them before and they’re very competent. 

“Good to see you guys. Can you take care of either taping the other end of the alley or taking care of the first witness?” I ask. 

“Oh? Super cop has limits? I did not know this!” Wolford says, grinning. 

"Why don't you do the tape?" Delgato says, but Wolford puts out a paw, palm down, so Delgato sighs and puts out his paw also. 

The two cops exchange hand motions and then the wolf, having chosen scissors and lost to the tiger’s rock, slumps his shoulders in defeat. 

“Fine. I’ll do the tape! Why do I always have to do tape?” He says, and I toss him my role, as he walks toward, and then into the alley. He’ll confirm death in the approved way with his paws and then to do tape. All very 'by the book' even thought we all know the victim is deceased. 

“So what’s up? Got a DB?” Del asks when he gets closer to me. He’s talking to me, but looking at the crime scene tape. He seems a little puzzled until he notices Wolfard pointing downward. I guess he didn't see her at first either. 

I look around in the other direction, but there was no sign of the detectives or the scene of crime guys. I’d rather tell everyone at the same time, really, but the tiger has been doing this longer than I have, and will probably be able to make some useful suggestions if he knows all the details. 

I tell him what I know. “Witness,” and here I gesture with my ears toward the badger, “discovered the body by attempting to make off with the purse. She admitted this, but then she told me she has to leave and so I had to keep an eye on her. Got her to stay by I asking her to help. She shows some signs of shock, but didn’t give me the ‘I’m guilty’ reaction when we talked. Seemed very normal.”

“Right. I’ll try talking to her,” Del says. He had been looking at the pile of debris that covered most of the body and now he shook his feline head as he walked over to the badger. 

I nodded and then watched the big cat get down on one knee so as not to tower over the other mammal. Wolfard had finished taping the other end of the alley and now he was coming back, careful to stay clear the body. He had already checked for signs of life and, obviously, found nothing.

He walked over to me. “You get a good look when you got here?” 

“No. Just a grey furred arm, probably from a wolf based on size. I listened, but heard no heartbeat.” 

He looked at me a little oddly when I mentioned not hearing the heartbeat. “I’m guessing adult female wolf, mid-30s? Well dressed, and all the pieces seem to still be there. No blood. Deceased. No sign of life.”

“Did you smell anything useful? Or see anything out of the ordinary?” 

“Nothing but trash. It’s overpowering, and that might be why she’s here.” 

“Or the murder was close by?” I ask. He grunts, and we watch the crowd. “I can hear people talking about the scene but it’s all the usual ‘what’s going on?’ stuff as usual. No witnesses saying anything like ‘I hope they don’t catch me.’” 

He looks at me, curious, so I elaborate. “I heard that once, so I chased him, caught him, and got a confession,” I tell him as Delgato rejoins us. He doesn’t tell us what the badger said, but I already know it was the same thing she told me because I heard most of the conversation. I expect the detective will release her after he, or she, arrives, or I hope so, anyway. 

“Of course you did,” Wolford says, and shakes his head. “Of course you did. Only Francis can hear that well and everyone knows it, so the crowd tends to be quieter when he's around."

Other cars start arriving. The first is a typical unmarked car with the detectives, and then the coroner’s van and the one with the scene of crime guys. The SOC guys go immediately to work. One heads for the badger and the other toward the alley. 

“Hopefully we can just get her prints here and spare her the trip to the station.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wasn't sure where to break up the chapters, so I just used the natural pauses in a story. In this case, when more people show up and start interacting.


	3. The Detective Takes Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with a difficult co-worker

“Oh crap. It’s Lord Commander Morgan,” Delgato says, motioning toward the detectives.

He’s right, and I’ve had some issues with Morgan in the past. He’s a rarity. Prey mammal from Nova Ferocia and I understand they do things differently there. He feels their way is better. Delgato and I, and many others Zootopian cops, disagree with that assessment, but Morgan outranks us, so that makes his opinion the one that matters. It can be annoying, but I won’t let that change how I do my job and I’d rather not let it affect the way Wolford and Delgato do their jobs either. 

“I wonder what we did wrong this time?” Wolford asks, but he's not looking at Del or me. 

“I’m sure he’ll tell us,” I reply. “And it’s Detective Sergeant Morgan.” 

“Yes, ma'am", Delgato mutters. 

Morgan sees us and marches over. He’s a ram and reminds me very strongly of my night howler experiences and the resulting injury, but I try to put that out of my mind.

“Which of you action men discovered the body?” the ram asks. He never seems to bother with small talk, doesn’t seem to care what others think about him, and never seems to understand why he’s not very well liked. He could learn a great deal from us if he’d just try once in awhile. 

Wolford frowns and Delgato crosses his arms. I hear their heart rates go up, and they’re clearly unhappy, so I try to explain the situation.

“Sir, I was the first officer on the scene. A badger saw the body and called us. I got here at 0947. Delgado and Wolford arrived at 1011. As you can see, we cordoned off the area-“

“Save it, Hopps. I heard the original report when it came in. Tell me and do not lie. Did you or did you not check to see if the mammal was alive or dead before calling in?” He raises his eyebrow as he asks this and I remind myself not to sigh. He threatened to report me the last time I did that and my boss has asked me to at least try to get along with the detective. 

“I checked. I could tell the victim was dead because her heart was not beating,” I said. Morgan said nothing, so I continued, but I didn’t give him any more information. “I heard no heartbeat.” 

The ram grinned. “I’d heard you were doing that! Standard procedure is a visual and digital, that’s with your paws, check of the body before calling it in and possibly wasting valuable ZPD resources.” He waves his hoofs as he says this. “Don’t you rabbits know about anything except multiplying?” 

We know about many things, but multiplying is one of our skills. It’s probably a rhetorical question, so I’m not sure whether to give him an answer. 

Wolford beats me to it. “I checked the body. With my paws,” he says, holding them up for the ram to see. He’s being difficult and I know it’s on purpose because he doesn’t like Morgan much. “She was dead.” 

Before Morgan can react, I jump back in. “I was first on scene and I made a judgment call.”

“A judgment call? Damn foolish you ask me,” the ram says. Then he turns away and goes back toward the alley. I think he's going to talk to the badger, but he seems to hesitate. I'm not sure why, but the ram seems a little uncertain right now. 

“I didn’t ask him,” Delgato comments. “And what the heck does he mean ‘digital’? The book says ‘manual,’ after all.”

“Ha! The manual says manual,” Wolford notes, grinning. Then he sobers a bit. “What a jerk.” 

I look a question at him, and he says, “Sorry. I know you don’t like to hear that kind of thing about fellow officers.” 

He seems unhappy, so I slap him on the knee. I could reach up and pat him on the butt, but that particular gesture is only for congratulations and so it would be inappropriate right now. 

“He might have a point. Maybe I should have done a manual check. With my paws,” I say, while holding up, and wiggling, my digits. Delgado and Wolford laugh, and I laugh with them. I’ll have to remember to ask Nick the next time I see him why that one was funny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still trying to portray a very literal, but very observant, Officer Hopps.


	4. Fallout Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ram complains to his supervisor

Detective Sergeant Morgan went to see his supervisor. As usual, he found Fang working despite the late hour, but Morgan hoped the old wolf was about done. ‘Does he ever sleep?’ he wondered. 

“A moment of your time, Leftenant?” Morgan asked. 

Lieutenant White Fang looked up from his paperwork and suppressed a groan. Morgan was supposed to be a good cop, and he had come highly recommended from Nova Ferocia. He was an outsider and a sort of fresh eyes approach would no doubt be a great benefit to the ZPD if the ram could ever figure out how not to trod on every single hoof or foot he could find. Fang already knew what this particular visit was about but there were appearances to be maintained and Morgan had a love for the proper ‘by the book’ way of doing things.

“Come in. Come in. I was just getting ready to clock out,” the wolf said, pushing away from his desk and stretching. He hoped Morgan understood the ‘we’re just two cops talking’ symbolism. He should because he was supposed to have plenty of real-world experience. 

Morgan came in and took his usual seat without being asked. It was a kind of standing invitation that anyone, once invited into Fang’s office, could have a seat during future visits. That was a good thing because Morgan had never asked. ‘Probably do things differently over there,’ Fang thought again. “What’s on your mind?” 

“It’s Officer Hopps, sir,” the ram answered. “The bunny cop.” 

“Oh? What’s she done now? Arrested another mayor?” Fang asked, hoping Morgan would take the hint and not try to start a fight with an officer like Hopps. 

He didn’t take the hint. “Sir, she’s disrespectful and apparently violates procedure on a regular basis.” 

“Oh?” Fang asked, and raised an eyebrow. 

“Yes sir. I’d like to prepare a letter of reprimand for her file,” the ram said. 

“What do you think would happen if you did that, Detective Sgt. Morgan?” the wolf asked. 

Again the ram failed to take the hint, this time implied by his superior officer’s use of the ram’s name and rank. “I think she would learn her place. She is a beat cop, not a supervisor, and she has no right to ignore proper procedure when it suits her.” 

“This procedure you’re talking about? Apparently she determined the victim was dead based on the lack of heartbeat? That is, she did not hear a heartbeat and assumed the she wolf was dead?” 

“That’s right, sir. The Manual is very clear. The first responding officer will-“

“I know what it says, sergeant. I helped write it. That was before we had rabbit cops who could tell by hearing, or not hearing in this case, if the victim was alive. I assume the victim was deceased?” The wolf asked. He knew the answer, of course, but wanted to see how the ram would address it. 

“That’s another thing. One of the other officers, Wolford, was insubordinate to me when I asked for clarification,” Morgan went on. He didn’t realize what sort of hole he was digging for himself. Not only was he ignoring a legitimate question, but he was also pushing when he really should just let it go. 

Fang leaned forward and rested his muzzle on one paw. ‘What am I going to do with you?’ he thought. Now, it was no longer two cops talking and the ram didn’t see that yet. 

“There will be no letter of reprimand for either Hopps or Wolford. Best idea for you would be to apologize to Hopps and make sure Wolford knows. Hopps is a rising star and Wolford has been here ten years so he knows a good cop when he sees one,” Fang said. ‘And a less good cop as well,’ he thought. Then he continued speaking. 

“Hopps is not a supervisor only because she’s, what? Nine months out of the Academy? You can’t be a supervisor until you've got at least a year of experience, but she doesn’t yet, so she’s not a supervisor.

“Tell me. When you saw Delgato, Wolford, and Hopps interacting, which one seemed to be in charge?”

“Hopps,” Morgan bit out. He was clearly unhappy at the way this conversation was going.

“Right. You think those two veterans would give her that kind of respect for no reason? If they were inferior cops, then they’d just ignore her, but she challenges them to be better and so they are. That’s what leaders are supposed to do.

“I’ve been going over these personnel reports,” the wolf gestured at the papers in front of him. “They’re very informative. For example, I’ll bet you’d never guess whose name keeps coming up in the database when I query it for things like ‘most respected by the community’ and ‘most major case is solved in the least amount of time.’ These are not minor accomplishments.”

Fang watched Morgan sit and think about it a few seconds. 

“May I speak candidly?” The ram asked. His voice was very controlled. 

‘You haven’t been already?’ Fang wondered. Then he said, “Sure,” and leaned back again. 

“A rabbit doesn’t belong on the police force! Especially not a cute little female bunny! She’s only going to get herself hurt and any other officer that is depending on her!” The ram was practically shouting, and he had stood up, briefly. 

The office was silent a few second, and then Morgan sat back down. “I see,” the wolf said, eventually. 

As he watched the ram clenching and unclenching his hoofs, the wolf began to wonder about the glowing recommendation that had caused the ram to be hired by the ZPD two months ago. Nova Ferocia has a predator bias, so the wolf had thought this ram must be truly exceptional. Now, he was starting to think someone had ‘kicked Morgan upstairs’ as the saying went by praising him so that someone else would take the problem off their hands. 

“Sir. May I be excused?” 

Fang gestured, and Morgan left. 

The wolf waited a minute and then started working on an email to Chief Bogo. He would prepare it tonight and then send it tomorrow if he still felt the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly based on some interactions I've had at my own work place.


	5. Fallout Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hopps and Fang

“Is Officer Hopps still here?” Lt. Fang asked an hour later. It was late evening, but the wolf had seen Hopps in the gym a couple of hours ago. 

“No sir. She went home," Clawhauser replied. 

“Tomorrow when you see her? Have her come see me,” Fang said into the intercom. 

The next day, immediately after roll call, the rabbit arrived at Lt. Fang’s office. She knocked politely and then jumped up into the same chair she had used the last time she had been summoned. She stood up straight on the too large chair, and her body language was more open than not. Her nose did not twitch and her ears were fully upright. To the wolf, the rabbit’s scent made him think of curiosity, not fear or concern. 

“Hopps? Do you know why you’re here?” The wolf asked. He sat behind his desk with his paws on the desk calendar that covered most of the surface. He did not push away from it the way he had done with Morgan the evening before. If Hopps understood why, she gave no sign of it. 

“Is it about Miss Lobos? The dead she-wolf?” Normally, Fang didn’t like having one of his questions answered with another question, but he also didn’t like wasting time, so he didn’t make an issue of it. Also, he had noticed that Hopps had used the victim’s name and that Morgan had not. Morgan may not have known the name because he just did not care. 

“Yes and no,” he replied instead. “I read your report.” 

“Yes sir?” The rabbit still looked eager. Waiting. If she was aware that there was a problem, it wasn’t apparent, except for her increased formality. ‘She’s very confident,’ the wolf thought. ‘Bogo warned me about that.’

“It was somewhat less detailed than expected. I know they tell you at the Academy to include more details, so why didn’t you?” Fang had had a great deal of practice asking questions like this and he believed he had included the right levels of concern, curiosity, and annoyance in the question. Patrol officers made mistakes and developed bad habits, and it was a lieutenant’s job to correct those errors and change those habits. 

“Sir, I was advised, after filling out my first report, to include fewer details. I understand that the chief will ask me if he needs more information.” She looked concerned, but not much. In fact, it was as if she knew precisely how much concern to show, or possibly she had expected this question and had prepared an answer. 

“Who told you that?” The wolf asked. 

“I would really rather not say, sir,” the rabbit replied. Her body language and scent did not change, and her tone was not defensive. 

‘She’s covering for the mammal that gave her what she feels is good advice. Evidently, she doesn’t fully trust me. Bogo also warned me about that possibility. Do I have to earn your trust? Probably,’ he thought. ‘I wonder what would happen if I ordered her to tell me?’

“Tell me about the crime scene,” the wolf ordered instead.

Officer Hopps did not hesitate. “No marks on the parts of the body I could see. Purse was still there. Garbage had been placed on the body, probably from above or in front anyway, and possibly one piece at a time, to hide it fairly well. It looked like who ever had dumped the body had spent at least a few minutes arranging the scene, and the purse was not as visible from above. If I had to guess, I would say they covered the body carefully and then walked away, not looking back, so they didn’t notice the way the purse stands out.”

‘Good thing she left that speculation out of the report,’ Fang thought. ‘I wonder what Morgan would say if I gave him the same order?’ 

The rabbit paused and appeared to reach a decision about something before continuing. “If it was me, I would have taken the purse, or at least the money, and hid the purse separately, to make this look more like a mugging gone wrong.” 

“Interesting,” the wolf said, but did not elaborate out loud. ‘She’s testing to see where the boundaries are in our relationship,’ he thought. “Dismissed.”

“Thank you, sir,” the rabbit said, and then hopped down off the chair, and went out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working on tying my stories together. It was either Delgato or Wolford [probably the cat, but I don't remember] that told her about the details thing.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't much like the title, but I can't figure out what to call it.


End file.
